Unsafe stacking of plastic bales claimed life of cleaner

Bakkavor Foods Limited has been fined £2,000,000 after a workman died when plastic bales fell on top of him in a storage area in February 2015..

Jacek Adamowicz, aged 29, was cleaning a storage yard when a number of plastic bales weighing 703 kg fell towards him trapping him against the ground.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Hitchen Foods, owned by the Bakkavor Group, failed to consider and properly plan the stacking and storage of the bales.

HSE investigators found there was unsafe stacking of bales of plastic. The company failed to implement properly planned safe systems of work for their employees who were exposed during the stacking of the bales.

There was also no formal training in stacking bales and lack of monitoring in the bale area.

Proper planning needed for storage and stacking

Bakkavor Foods Limited Foods of Dobson Park Way, Wigan plead guilty to breaches of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work at 1974 and was fined £2million with £32,595.10 costs.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Ian Betley said:

“Bakkavor Foods Limited fell far short of the required standard expected. Not only should proper planning have been carried out in relation to the storage and stacking of waste bales, but also a system of work subsequently put in place to mitigate those risks. The company failed on both of these counts with devastating consequences.”